‍The Ex-Files: How to protect your inheritance during relationship troubles

Question: My wife and I have been going to counselling as our relationship hasn’t been going well for some time. I don’t know if we are going to separate or not, but I am about to receive $275,000 from my mother’s estate and I want to be able to keep this if we were to separate. What can I do?

Answer: Under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 the property you and your wife own is classified as either separate or relationship property. Generally, your relationship property will be divided 50:50 and you each get to keep 100% of your respective separate property.

The starting point

As a starting point, inheritance is separate property. However, if inheritance is intermingled with relationship property it can lose its separate property status. This can happen if inherited funds are paid into a joint account where there are the usual income and expenses flowing.

To learn how to keep the inheritance from being intermingled with relationship property and how to handle any intentional contribution to the relationship property pool, read the full NZ Herald Ex-Files article here.

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